Keeping 10 lorries compliant comes down to one thing. You need one system that shows, at any point, what is due, what has been done, what was found, who accepted it, and what still needs action. If that sounds obvious, good. Most compliance problems start when that information sits in three places, two people’s heads, and a spreadsheet nobody trusts.
If you are working out how to organise maintenance compliance for 10 lorries, the answer is not more admin for its own sake. It is a routine that matches the promises on your O-licence, the way your vehicles are actually used, and the standard of evidence DVSA will expect to see. Ten vehicles is already enough for small gaps to turn into missed PMIs, late MOT bookings, repeat defects and awkward questions about roadworthiness.
Start with one master compliance list
Begin with a single live register for all 10 lorries. If you run trailers, include them as well. Do not keep one list for trucks, another for trailers, and a separate calendar for annual tests. That is how dates get missed.
For each vehicle, we keep one line of core information:
- Registration number
- Fleet number
- VIN or chassis number
- Make and model
- Odometer reading or kilometre reading
- In-service date
- MOT due date
- Next PMI due date
- PMI interval, by weeks
- tachograph inspection or calibration due date, where applicable
- Vehicle Excise Duty status if you manage it centrally
- Assigned depot or operating centre
- Responsible person, usually the transport manager or fleet administrator
- Maintenance provider, whether in-house, external, or mixed
- Any restrictions, such as ADR kit, fridge unit servicing, tail-lift testing, or LOLER items if fitted
That list needs to be live, not a static document saved to a desktop. If mileage changes, if a vehicle is swapped between operations, if a trailer comes off the road, the record changes the same day.
For 10 lorries, responsibility must also be written down. Not “the office” or “the workshop”. Name the person who checks due dates, the person who books inspections, and the person who confirms the paperwork is back and complete. In a small haulage business, that may be one person wearing three hats. Fine. Write it anyway.
We also recommend adding two forward-looking dates, not just the legal due dates:
- Target booking date
- Last safe completion date
For example, if a PMI is due in week 6, your target booking date might be 14 days earlier, and your last safe completion date might be 3 working days before due. That gives room for workshop capacity, parts delays, and vehicle availability. If you only record the due date, you are already late in practical terms.
Mileage matters too. Time-based planning alone is weak if one lorry covers twice the distance of another. A truck doing urban multidrop, kerbing tyres and brakes all day, does not want the same assumptions as a unit doing steady trunk work. Your master list should show current mileage and average weekly use so you can see when your maintenance plan no longer matches reality.
If you want a clearer picture of the evidence a system should produce, our guide on how to show maintenance control for your O-licence sets out what a proper record needs to prove.
Set inspection intervals that match the operation
A PMI schedule should reflect how the vehicles are used, not what feels convenient in the diary.
On the O-licence, you commit to a maintenance regime. That includes the interval between safety inspections. If you say 6 weekly and then let trucks drift to 7 or 8 because the workshop was busy, that is not a harmless slip. It is evidence that your maintenance control is weak.
Set each preventative maintenance inspection interval by looking at actual operating conditions:
- Distance covered each week
- Load type and weight
- Urban stop-start work versus motorway trunking
- Construction, waste, agriculture, or other harsh environments
- Night work and availability for workshop time
- Age and condition of the vehicle
- Trailer usage patterns
- Manufacturer recommendations where relevant
A truck pulling general haulage on trunk work may sit comfortably on a longer interval than a tipper working on muddy sites every day. The UK system allows operators to set their inspection intervals, but they must be appropriate and they must be kept. If your operation changes, your interval may need to change too.
For ten lorries, we usually advise mapping the whole year in advance. Put every PMI, MOT and any other fixed compliance event into one schedule for 12 months ahead. Then check for bunching. If four vehicles are due in the same week because they were all acquired together, spread what you can safely spread before that pattern locks you into repeated pressure points.
Annual test planning needs the same discipline. MOT bookings should not be made when the reminder letter turns up. Book test slots early enough to leave time for pre-test preparation and retest work if needed. A clean annual test record helps, but the real point is avoiding a vehicle being stood down because the booking window was left too late.
For HGVs in Great Britain, annual testing is managed through DVSA. If you also operate elsewhere in Europe, do not assume the same booking process or testing structure applies. The broad principle is similar, but the administration and timing rules can differ by country. The O-licence commitments and the way DVSA will judge compliance are UK-specific.
A practical way to plan PMIs is to work backwards from the due week:
- Week due: legal or committed inspection point
- 2 weeks before: vehicle allocated to workshop slot
- 1 week before: parts and known repair items reviewed
- 2 to 3 days before: mileage checked, driver availability confirmed
- Same day as PMI: inspection completed, defects raised, sign-off obtained
- Within 24 to 48 hours after: paperwork reviewed and filed
This matters because a PMI is not just a box in a planner. It is only complete when the inspection has been done, defects have been assessed, repairs have either been completed or properly controlled, and the record is signed in a way that stands up later.
If you are still relying on a wall planner or spreadsheet, read our piece on which HGV maintenance planner actually holds up under DVSA. The issue is not whether a planner looks organised. It is whether it proves control when someone asks hard questions.
Build a defect reporting and repair routine that holds up
Daily defect reporting is where a lot of operators come unstuck. The policy sounds fine. The evidence does not.
For each lorry, the driver needs a clear daily check routine before first use. That includes obvious safety and roadworthiness items such as tyres, lights, steering feel, mirrors, glass, wipers, warning lamps, fluid leaks, body security, load security equipment, brake performance and anything specific to the vehicle type. Trailers need the same discipline, not a quick glance and a guess.
The report then needs to show one of two things:
- No defects found
- Defects found, with enough detail to act on them
“Brakes bad” is poor. “Nearside rear brake binding when moving off, smell of heat after short run” is useful.
Nil defect reporting matters. If you only keep reports when something is wrong, you cannot show a consistent checking routine. During a DVSA visit, that gap gets noticed quickly.
Once a defect is reported, the next steps must be fixed:
- The report is reviewed by a responsible person.
- A decision is made on roadworthiness.
- If the defect is safety-related, the vehicle is stopped until repaired.
- Repair work is raised to the workshop or external provider.
- The completed repair is recorded.
- The vehicle is signed back into service by an authorised person.
That chain needs timestamps and names. Not because bureaucracy is fun, but because without them you cannot prove control.
Be honest about what is and is not fit to defer. A cracked mirror glass, a tyre below legal tread, an ABS warning lamp, insecure bodywork, steering play, air leaks, brake imbalance, these are not “watch and monitor” items. If a vehicle is not roadworthy, it does not go out. That decision must be visible in the record.
For workshop action, the paperwork should tie the defect report to the repair entry. If a driver reports an issue on Monday and the invoice or job card appears on Thursday with no link back, you have created an avoidable gap. Use defect reference numbers or job numbers and carry them through.
Sign-off matters as much as diagnosis. We want to see:
- Who reported the defect
- Who assessed it
- What repair was carried out
- Who carried out the repair
- When it was completed
- Who authorised return to service
This is also where repeated defects show themselves. If the same lamp unit keeps filling with water, or the same trailer keeps coming back with ABS lead damage, the answer is not to keep replacing the part and call the file complete. Repeated defects point to weak root-cause control, poor repair quality, or an operating issue that needs addressing.
Our workshop experience is simple here. The routine has to work on wet mornings, late returns, agency drivers and busy Fridays. If the process only works when the transport manager is in the office and the fitter has time to chase paperwork, it is not a real process.
Control the paperwork before it controls you
You do not need mountains of paper. You do need complete records that can be produced quickly.
For each vehicle and trailer, keep these maintenance records in an organised file, digital or physical:
- PMI inspection sheets
- Repair records and workshop job cards
- MOT and annual test documents
- Driver defect reports, including nil reports
- Evidence of rectification for reported defects
- Brake test records where applicable
- Roller brake test printouts or laden brake test evidence, where used
- tachograph calibration and inspection records
- Records of any safety recalls and completed recall work
- Maintenance planner or schedule showing due dates and completion dates
- Third-party invoices if maintenance is outsourced
- Vehicle off-road records if a unit was stood down
- Any correspondence relevant to maintenance control
The key is retrieval. During a DVSA visit or a Traffic Commissioner inquiry, nobody wants to watch you dig through email folders for half an hour. You should be able to pull a full vehicle history in minutes.
We favour filing by vehicle, then by date, with a separate calendar view for upcoming obligations. That gives you two ways to find things. By asset, and by due event.
Your PMI records need to be legible, signed, dated and complete. If an inspection sheet has defects marked but no repair outcome, it is incomplete. If it is signed but has no vehicle mileage, it is weak. If it is scanned badly and half the tyre data is unreadable, it may as well not exist.
Retention periods matter. In the UK, operators are expected to keep maintenance records for at least 15 months. In practice, many keep longer because trend review is easier and historical evidence can become important if questions arise later. If you operate across borders, check the local requirements in those jurisdictions rather than assuming the UK position is enough.
Outsourced maintenance does not remove your duty to hold the records. If an external workshop carries out the PMI, you still need the completed inspection sheet and repair evidence in your system. “The garage has it” is not a defence.
The same goes for annual tests. Keep the pass, fail and repair trail together. If a vehicle failed on a prohibited item and returned the next day, that story should be obvious from the file.
If you want a practical benchmark, our article on which maintenance records stand up in a DVSA audit covers the difference between records that merely exist and records that actually prove control.
Review the system every month
Monthly review is where you catch the problems before DVSA does.
For a 10 lorry fleet, a monthly compliance review does not need to take all day, but it does need to be disciplined. We check five things first:
- Any PMI completed late, or not completed at all
- Any MOT due within the next 8 to 12 weeks
- Any defects still open beyond the agreed repair window
- Any repeated defects by vehicle or trailer
- Any gaps in daily defect reporting
Then we look at quality, not just dates.
Were PMIs done at the planned interval, or did they drift to the edge every time? Are brake performance issues appearing repeatedly? Are the same vehicles coming back with tyre edge wear, lamp faults, or suspension problems? Did a vehicle pass annual test but with a rush of repairs in the week before? That often means the routine maintenance is not biting early enough.
OCRS risk is part of this picture. OCRS is influenced by encounters and findings, not by your office paperwork alone, but weak maintenance control tends to show up on the road sooner or later. A missed defect, a poor brake result, an avoidable prohibition, these are not isolated events. They usually have a paper trail beforehand.
Use the monthly review to compare promise against practice:
- O-licence inspection interval promised
- Actual interval achieved
- Number of safety-related defects reported by drivers
- Number found at PMI that drivers missed
- Number of repairs deferred
- Number of defects repeated within 30 or 60 days
- Vehicles unavailable due to late planning
That last point matters more than many operators admit. Compliance failures often begin as planning failures. A truck is needed for a job, the PMI gets squeezed, the workshop slot moves, the paperwork catches up later, and the exception quietly becomes normal.
Where you find a weak spot, change the process, not just the date in the planner. If PMIs are missed because vehicles are away at customer sites, build in earlier bookings. If defect reports are poor because drivers are rushed, simplify the reporting route and train them again. If outsourced workshops return paperwork late, set a deadline and chase it every time.
A short monthly meeting with the transport manager, workshop lead and whoever controls the maintenance file is usually enough. Review the exceptions. Confirm the next month’s bookings. Check that every completed inspection has the paperwork behind it. Sign off actions and owners there and then.
That is the practical answer to keeping 10 lorries compliant without missing anything. One live list. Realistic intervals. A defect routine that proves roadworthiness. Records you can produce without drama. And a monthly review that catches drift before it becomes a hearing in front of the Traffic Commissioner.
It is not glamorous. It is repetitive. Some weeks it feels like all you do is chase dates and signatures. But that is the job. In a 10 vehicle fleet, compliance is rarely lost in one big failure. It is lost in small misses that nobody pulled together in time.
Who should own maintenance compliance for a 10-lorry fleet?
One named person should own the schedule and the records, even if workshop work is outsourced. In a small haulage firm that is often the transport manager or O-licence holder.
How often should a lorry have a PMI?
There is no single interval that fits every fleet. The interval must suit the vehicle's use, condition and risk, and it must match what you can justify to DVSA.
Do I need to keep maintenance records if an external workshop does the work?
Yes. Outsourcing the work does not outsource responsibility. You still need complete records of inspections, defects, repairs and evidence that work was done on time.
How long should maintenance records be kept?
Keep safety inspection and repair records for at least 15 months. That gives you a usable history if DVSA asks to see evidence of roadworthiness management.
Can I run this on spreadsheets?
You can, but 10 lorries is often where spreadsheets start to fail. Dates get missed, versions drift and paperwork ends up in too many places.
